...Mules can often work without constant supervision. For example, they know how to rake hay without real interaction from the teamster. This takes that to another level.
Charter Member
...Mules can often work without constant supervision. For example, they know how to rake hay without real interaction from the teamster. This takes that to another level.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
I'm getting ready to buy a new tractor in he next few months but it will be Diesel with heated and cooled cab.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke
Charter Member
Buy one of these and you don't need a cab---just sit in the house and watchOriginally Posted by Mike
Some of my machines had cabs and heat was nice but I didn't like the AC on most of them. You are in and out too much and depending on what you are doing you have to be able to hear. The other thing is that in the case of a TLB often you have to stand up and look out over the back--so the back window needs to be open anyway. The same applies to an excavator when working deep. The heat was most advantageous when doing snow removal. About the only things I ever used the AC on was rubber tired loaders and pans. The biggest advantage on the pans was that can be one dusty job when the haul road is dry and you are passing each other---those are days when you really appreciate the water wagon.
If I were to buy a new tractor now I might consider AC since most of the things that prevented me from being a fan don't apply to what I do now. Another advantage is that if I kept the cab closed in the barn that would keep the darn fox from crapping on my seat
The one place I would definitely have AC on farm equipment is on a combine---the dust can be a killer.
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 03-19-2021 at 03:20 PM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
And yet self-directed machinery can have its drawbacks......Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Registered Member
I don't know what you're looking at but my Kubota M 6800 with a cab and 4 by 4 has never given me one moment's problem for many many years.
OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Registered Member
I haven't really looked yet, but Kubota is at the top of my list because there is a dealer about 10 miles away. JD is about 15 miles, but their proprietary stance on repairs will probably rule them out. That and the prices they ask.
My current Case-IH compact has been great over the 30 years I've owned it. It has been completely submerged in flood water three times and all I did was change fluids. It is still going strong. It will work great in the garden. I need something bigger for mowing and doing a little front end loader work.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke
Charter Member
In a sad moment I just read that our neighbor died last week. Somehow he was run over by his tractor.
Kubota has to be high on anyone's list. My on opinion of John Deere is they charge a hell of a price for green paint
Registered Member
I had a friend's son-in-law suffer the same fate. He hit a stump while mowing, bounced off the tractor and went under the shredder. His poor wife found him. Damn what a shame.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke
Charter Member
I have no clue what a 'shredder' is but it does not like it would leave a pretty corpse.... She must have been devastated.
My grand pa died of a heart attack after flipping his riding mower on a hill in his back yard in Mississippi....
Registered Member
Well, I live in big farm country and expect I will be dead before I see an electric tractor working ground. These guys ain’t gunna bring their toys back to the barn at the end of the shift, and I dont see a cable spool replacing the fuel tank in the back of the truck. It’s JD here unless you are a poor farmer, and I very rarely see a field serviceman. Mostly tires.
Hopefully Kubota fixed their balance issues. Because they were “modular” with bolt-on attachments, they were prone to fall over. But I would definitely look at them if I was looking for a small tractor.
But what do I know. I didn’t think Tesla was viable either.
On edit: these guys have definitely embraced the satellite guided planting for their row crops. Makes cultivating and harvesting easier. I can see them being totally on board with driving the tractor from their Lazy-boy.
Last edited by CactusCurt; 03-20-2021 at 10:30 AM.
"Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.
don"
Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Charter Member
More important to big agriculture is the GPS mapping combined with yield maps. The farmer is still allowed to drive but the smart functions can be taken over by technology. To describe it in the simplest forms: during the harvest there is a flow meter feed back to the GPS map regarding crop yield. When a plot is done being harvested, there is a map of "iso yield" lines, much like a topographical map. That map is then used during the next planting cycle and drives primarily the fertilization rates at the time of planting.
As a bit of a meaningless aside, I "invented" many years ago a "follow the leader" system for driverless combines---but I was too far out in front (no pun intended)
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
